Snapchat extortionist posing as UT football player gets 30 months, told to take responsibility

A Sweetwater, Tenn., man who posed as a University of Tennessee football player on Snapchat and terrorized more than a dozen young women in a bid to extort nude selfies from them has struck a plea deal in the case, records show.
Angela Gosnell/News Sentinel

This story has a correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the position of former University of Tennessee defensive back Cameron Sutton.

A federal judge on Tuesday scolded a 23-year-old Sweetwater, Tenn., man for using Snapchat and the popularity of a University of Tennessee football player to extort nude selfies.

“Thank you,” Brandon Douglas Shanahan said, placing his hands firmly on the defense table in U.S. District Court for emphasis, after U.S. District Judge Pamela Reeves lectured him on life and gave him a 30-month prison term.

“You have the responsibility to make your own life better,” Reeves told him.

From player to impersonator

Shanahan was himself a popular football player but wound up his sister’s babysitter after graduating high school. At age 22, he began posing as former UT defensive back Cameron Sutton, who had a big following on Snapchat among female students and teenage girls.

His impersonation soon led to darker forms of deceit and intimidation as he vowed public humiliation and in at least once instance violence against 14 young women and two teenage girls if they didn’t send him nude selfies with sexually explicit and degrading captions, court records show.

Power or lust?

Shanahan chose not to speak, but Hedrick suggested Shanahan was drawn to the power of it, more than the lure of “explicit photographs.” He said Shanahan needed counseling.

Davidson agreed Shanahan had no prior history of criminal behavior and could benefit from counseling. But she struck the plea, Davidson told Reeves, because the women and girls he extorted have suffered enough.

“Most of these victims, while they would testify, they were hoping it wouldn’t go to trial because of the embarrassment,” she said.

She didn’t cut him much of a break. He agreed to the maximum sentence in two counts of extortion, and she dropped the remaining charges.

“Obviously, Mr. Shanahan, that was very frustrating to the court,” she said. “You had to get back online and commit another offense.”

The judge told Shanahan that if he felt powerless or purposeless, he should fix that — legally.

“There’s a responsibility on your part to make your own effort to build a life,” she said. “You are going to have to take responsibility for this.”

She warned him that she wouldn’t be so understanding if he doesn’t mend his ways after prison.

“I don’t want to ever see you in this courtroom or any other where you are threatening young women in this manner,” she said. “Do you understand, Mr. Shanahan?”

He replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

The judge continued, “Please don’t let me see you back in this courtroom.”

“You won’t,” he said.

Shanahan’s behavior came to light in early 2016 when a UT student reported the campaign of terroristic threats against her. A USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee story on that case led other women and teenage girls to come forward.

According to the FBI, Shanahan used flattery and "proof" of his identity as Sutton — via an image of a black man's chest — and culled personal information from the women and girls, including their cellphone numbers. He then began a campaign of blackmail to force them to send nude selfies with specific, sexually explicit captions.